To close out April, also known as National Poetry Month, we wanted to write a blog that would offer a newly published author tips on how to effectively promote their new poetry book.

As with other genres, poetry books open up the door to a wide variety of opportunities to maximize your promotional efforts.

To begin, events offer a great opportunity to get actively involved in your community and interact with potential readers. One way in particular is to partake in poetry readings. Consider collaborating with other local poets to host a reading. Each writer can contribute his or her own promotional efforts to create more of a buzz and entice local poetry lovers to attend the event. This in turn, could increase your chances of promoting and selling your book.

To continue on the event path, holding your own poetry workshop at your local library or cafe is another way to promote your book. Before you begin promoting, speak with management in order to gain permission to hold such an event – you might need to hold it on weekends or at off-peak hours, particularly at some coffee shops or cafes. At the event, you will have the opportunity to teach budding poets how to write their own poetry.

Being prepared is essential when holding your own event. Keep your elevator pitch fresh in your mind so that you can quickly speak about your book to those in attendance. Also, be sure to bring enough copies of your book for those interested in your work, and leave behinds to hand out to those who might buy later.

Finally, consider writing more than just poems.  Since you’ve already published a book, it’s evident that you have a knack for writing, so use that creativity and channel it towards your blog and your social posts.  One way to use these outlets to your advantage is to include a small taste of some of the poems in your book as a teaser. If the reader likes what they have read so far, they may go out and buy your book.  As always, your blog and social media sites are great platforms that can be used to keep your audience up-to-date with upcoming news, events and other important pieces of information. And don’t forget – there’s no rule against posting this information in haiku form!

In short, whichever promotional route that you chose to take, whether it’s through a poetry reading or a poetry workshop and everything in between, remember to use your creativity and ingenuity while promoting your book. Keep in mind that you are a Dorrance-published poet, so you should let everyone know it!